I am treading into unfamiliar waters by offering a review of Under the Devil's Eye for, although I greatly enjoy and, hopefully, profit by reading well written nonfiction history, this is the first book I have ever read that is classified specifically as military history. Details of battle tactics, deployment of fighting units, and employment of war materiel are rather far removed from my fields of interest. In brief, my comments on the book are those of a general reader, not a military historian so either consider or disregard them accordingly.

Why was my attention attracted to a military history book? The title intrigued me, and it dealt with a seldom-discussed theatre in World War I -- the Great War and the one in which my own father served in France but of which he seldom spoke. I wanted to learn a bit more of what he may have seen and experienced. To that end, I found Under the Devil's Eye worth nearly every minute I spent reading it.

References to specific military units and their deployment left me just a bit on the unenlightened side, primarily because they were all British units of which I have no knowledge and were being deployed in a geographical region of which I have little knowledge as well, making it difficult for me to relate to that information. However, such moments of relative confusion were rare, and even then the names of many such units are exciting to an American reader: the Black Watch, the King's Own, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the Royal Irish Rifles, the 1st Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and on and on. The names stir the blood!

What held my interest throughout the entire book and was to me of the greatest value are the frequent quotations from soldiers' diaries and memoirs as well as from official unit diaries. These are priceless. The reader learns from what were first-hand, on-the-ground sources, and they paint all-too-vivid pictures of privation, of having to labor in oppressive sultry summer heat, of trying to survive not only enemy bullets but also freezing winter weather, of attempting to find some way to rest in a leaking tent pitched on mud in drenching rain, and of desperately hoping to survive while advancing over open fields raked with machine gun fire. Although the authors' avowed purpose in writing this book was to record and thereby honor in memory the travails of their countrymen laboring, suffering, and dying in a theatre of war not well covered in history books, I feel the book has achieved an even greater end by showing readers what the Great War was like from the viewpoint of the men who faced the enemy in a strange and inhospitable land.

By the way, have you watched the 1999 movie The Mummy directed by Stephen Sommers? At one point we find several protagonists flying over the desert in a World War I era biplane with a strange looking machine gun mounted aft. That equipment was more historically accurate than I suspected, and that is a Lewis Gun. Had I not come across Under the Devil's Eye I would likely have never known the name of that weapon. You just never know what new knowledge you'll take away from a good book!

I don't remember my grandfather. He died when I was about 3. I've searched my memory, but there is nothing there. However, my mother told me that he'd served in Salonika during WW1. He also left behind a brass matchbox case that he'd made. It was engraved with dates and his service record from his war. I decided to try to find out moe. I was so glad that I came across this book. It certainly helped me to fill in some gaps in my family history. I loved the sections that gave personal stories from the soldiers.
I was able to contact the author. He was able to help me decode my grandfather's matchbox case.

I, like many of the other reviewers here, was drawn to this book because my Grandfather served in Salonika. All I know is that he was evacuated with malaria and had lost a lot of weight because of this disease. My aunty thinks that he may have been a 'spotter'. Having read here about the kite balloons used as spotting positions I can`t help wondering if my grandfather was up there too. I now plan to try and find out more about him and his role in this war. I do not know what unit he was in. His name was Arthur James Wakefield McKay and if anyone reading this has any knowledge to share I would love to hear from you.
The book itself is interesting. There is quite a lot of description of troop movements but for anyone looking for particular events in this regard it will prove very useful.

  Arthur James Wakefield McKay ca 1930s.

A great read

An excellently researched and written narrative of an underrated theatre of the First World War. You warm to the personal accounts of the serving men and women from both sides of the conflict.
Recommended for any student of military history or anyone with an interest in the events of the great war.

This is a nice book on a niche aspect of the war. The author writes well and clearly. The book provides an ample number of maps which, given how obscure this part of the war was, are very useful to have. There are a few awkward sentences and I feel there was a bit of an overreliance on quotes. The number and size of the quotes seem to have been used in order to extend the length of the book.

http://nhw.livejournal.com/689793.html[return][return]This is much more of a grass-roots story compared to Alan Palmer's geopolitical survey, livened up by direct accounts from the soldiers themselves, either from contemporary letters or from memoirs. It also concentrates exclusively on the British, with one benefit being an entire chapter on the Struma Valley battles of 1916 which Palmer almost ignores. The maps are by far the clearest of any of the books I've consulted so far (though I do wish I had access to the colour maps which graced Cyril Falls' first edition).

Good book about yet another forgotten front from the First World War. The research for this book is great and the story of the British Salonika Army is well told through the eyes of the men who lived through the campaign. This force was sent there in support of the Serbian army fighting the Austro-Hungarians and Bulgarians along with a French force, and was never meant to be more than a token force and was not to use any more valuable men and material than necessary. The men suffered greatly because of this, be it with sickness, the differing weather by the seasons or the lack of support equipment when in battle. Between enemy action and health issues, the men also had to worry about political issues with the Greeks, as they were there without the support of the mostly pro-Central Powers Greek government, and not only had to watch their fronts, but also their backs. The author uses diaries and letters from the men who served there and really shows how life on the lines were, and gives good background of operations in between. Recommended World War 1 reading.

I read this book as the Squadron in which I currently serve was one of the Field Ambulances that took part in this campaign. In addition, although I am a keen amateur military historian, I know almost nothing about this particular aspect of the First World War.
The book is well written and easy to read. Although it is very date-factual, as almost all history books are, there is liberal use of first-hand accounts of the various aspects of the campaign, especially the two main Doiran battles.
The authors also divided the book to look at the separate aspects of life and campaigning in what seems to have been an extremely hostile environment, with extremes of both terrain and weather. I found it fascinating to read the accounts about life in the front line, in the rear and particularly the role of the medical services.
If you are interested in this period of history and like me have little or no knowledge of what occurred in the Balkans, I would highly recommend this book.

A thoughtful and all incompassing account of this little known ( now and then) theatre of operations during WW1. Of particular interest to me as I have a medal group to a soldier of the 11/ Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Excellent account!

I must declare an interest - I have known Alan Wakefield since 2003 when I first joined the Salonika Campaign Society. Alan was a founding member and is a long-standing Chair of the Society. With a grandfather who served In Salonika - and caught the almost obligatory malaria - I well remember the excitement when the first edition of this book came out in 2004. At the time, the only other book on the campaign was Alan Palmer's 'Gardeners of Salonika' which, whilst a fine account of the campaign, takes a wider view of the military operations - and associated political shenanigans - of the various participants in Macedonia in 1915-18. Wakefield and Moody put the spotlight very firmly on the British Salonika Army and allow individual soldiers, nurses and airman to speak through their diaries and letters. Broadly chronological - with key events and battles covered - it also has themed chapters which are a real strength of the book, such as: 'Life in the Front Line', Life Behind the Lines', 'Medical Provision and Hospital Life' and 'War in the Clouds'. The lively and engaging text is supported by a fascinating collection of photos and - huzzah! - clear and elegant maps.

Rereading it after a break of a number of years, I found this republished version as fresh as ever and a very fine and informative tribute to the forgotten soldiers of the British Salonika Army. It remains the definitive book on the subject.

Brings the conflict to life

Extremely well researched this book provides great depth, details combined with well selected personal accounts.
Even if one has no prior understanding of the front it's easy to understand.

My grandfather and his brothers served in Salonika so this was very interesting to me. Along with details of battles, maps and photographs there are a lot of diary entries from the men who were there. Troops suffered from malaria and dysentery, lack of food and supplies, nowhere to go in their "rest periods" intense heat in the summer and cold in the winter. And of course they won their final battle before those in France. Yet it has all been neglected and this is a very timely reminder of what life and death was like on the forgotten front.